Jean Meslier

French priest and thinker. Born in Mazerny, a small village in the Ardennes department, northeast of Reims. At the age of 20, he entered the seminary in Reims. After graduating, he was appointed parish priest of Etrepigny and Barève, close to his hometown, and spent the rest of his life there. Shortly after his death, a manuscript written by the priest himself in his later years was discovered. This posthumous work, titled "Memoirs," was filled with intense anger and criticism of politics and religion throughout. Meslier began by expressing his sympathy for the people who were forced to live miserable lives, denouncing social inequality and the oppression of the rulers, and exposing the deception of Christianity, the pillar of the "theocracy," and its morality that preaches obedience to its doctrines and rulers, opposing it to atheism and materialism, calling on the people to "unite if they have a heart," and urging the overthrow of the Ancien Régime. Eventually, copies of "Memoirs" (whether in whole or in part) began to circulate, and their existence became widely known when Voltaire published a portion of it as "The Testament of Jean Meslier" in 1762. In the 18th century, when there was no freedom of expression, Meslier's "Memoirs" (whether in part or in whole) influenced Enlightenment thinkers such as d'Alembert as a book that chronicled his own conscience, which he had been unable to express, and its radical ideas also served as the basis for criticism of religion and materialism by d'Holbach and others.

[Koichi Ishikawa December 12, 2017]

"Sugi Katsuo's translation of "The Testament" (included in "French Materialist Philosophy", 1931, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Ishikawa Koichi, "The Path to Atheism: On the Logical Structure of Jean Meslier's 'Memoirs'" (included in "Shiso" No. 759, 1987, Iwanami Shoten)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの司祭、思想家。ランス北東、アルデンヌ県の小村マゼルニーに生まれる。20歳でランスの神学校に入学。卒業後、生村に近いエトレピニーとバレーブの主任司祭に任じられ、生涯をその地に過ごす。死後まもなく、司祭自らが晩年に綴(つづ)った手稿が発見される。『覚え書』と題されたこの遺著は全編激しい怒りに満ちた政治批判、宗教批判の書であった。メリエは悲惨な生活を強いられていた民衆への共感を述べることから書き起こし、社会的不平等や支配者の圧政を告発し、「神権政治」の支柱であったキリスト教に対してもその教義や支配者への服従を説く道徳の欺瞞(ぎまん)を暴露して無神論、唯物論を対置し、「民衆よ、心あらば団結せよ」と呼びかけ、アンシャン・レジームの打倒を促した。『覚え書』はやがてその一部あるいは全部が写本として流布し始め、1762年ボルテールがその一部を『ジャン・メリエの遺言書』として出版するに及び広くその存在が知られることとなる。思想表現の自由のない18世紀、メリエの『覚え書』は語りえなかった自らの良心を綴った書としてダランベールなどの啓蒙(けいもう)思想家に影響を与えるとともにその急進的な思想はドルバックなどの宗教批判や唯物論の素地ともなった。

［石川光一　2017年12月12日］

『杉捷夫訳『遺言書』（『フランス唯物論哲学』所収・1931・中央公論社）』▽『石川光一「無神論への軌跡――ジャン・メリエの『覚え書』、その論理構成について」（『思想』第759号所収・1987・岩波書店）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例